ii} the lilillﬂx own adttlixxiott. tttosl til the horror titles w hieh were eaught up in the ‘\ideo tlitxllexi \c‘al'c‘ (ll. lltL‘ Ctlt'l} ﬁlls llthL‘ ne\ er e\ en been submitted for ("K classification. so great is the stigma attached to them h) our moral guardians. While upmarket shoekers like l’mwmiun ma} resurl‘aee unseathed alter )ears in exile. downmarket titles like The [Nil/('1‘ Ki/It'r and 1 SM! ()1! Your (imrt' (interesting ttto\'ie.\ both) remain l't’l’btllt'll on lllc‘xc‘ shores. more through tear than reason.

As someone who has aetually seen these mmiex. I wouldn’t argue that the} all ha\ e artistie merit. l personall} think .1 ('u/ In The Brain ix a terrible pieee ol garbage. although I ha\ e met a number of horror tans who would

Ollt 0f bounds. 'Mark Kermode

enthusiastically beg to differ. But I think that )titi \lttillld he able to ehoose l’or _\our\ell whether to e\perienee an_\' or all ol~ these moxiex. good or had. and to assess their relati\ e merits tor _\our\elll

Sadl). in modern da} Britain. that isn’t a ehoiee which ix _\t)lll‘\ lti ltlitlx'L‘.

Video sleeves taken from The Art Of The Nasty, published by Salvation Films at £19.99

AKING THE CUT

Set your videos, it’s Channel 4’s ’Censored Weekend’.

Bloody gore and hardcore porn — the twin cinematic evils which will cause society to crumble? Channel 4 examines both in a series of documentaries and movie screenings over the weekend of 20—21 February.

In The Last Days Of The Board (Sat 20, 9pm), film producer Stephen Woolley follows former chief censor James Ferman during his final weeks of power and looks at the role of the British Board of Film Classification. The snigger- snigger nature of the porn industry is shown against a darker background of poverty in Boogie Nights In Suburbia (Sat 20, 10pm); while in Don’t Look Now (Sat 20, 11.35pm), broadcaster Aminatta Forna argues that screen images, particularly sexual violence, can reinforce behaviour over time.

Past TV censorship decisions and the problems of a multi-channel future come under the scrutiny of a panel in Censored (Sun 21, 10pm); and Mark Kermode puts forward the case that censorship is a patronising interference with personal liberty in Eyes Wide Open (Sun 21, 11.05pm). Illustrating the debates are a quartet of films that have sent our moral guardians into a tizzy: Evil Dead II (Sat 20, 11.50pm), Zombie Flesh Eaters (Sun 21, 1.30am), Bad Lieutenant (Sun 21, 11.20pm) and Salon Kitty (Mon 22, 1.05am).